Somewhere in Iraq

Camp

December 21

4:47am

Derrick laid on the tiny bottom bunk that was in he and Josh's cabin. He looked over at the beautiful woman that lay next to him. Her bouncy blonde curls smelled like some sort of tropical fruit and her lightly tanned skin smelled like sweet cinnamon. Her bright blue eyes were filled with so much hope but with the perfect mix of worry.

"Derrick, I should go…I--" The woman began to say.

"Angela, please don't leave me. I don't want to lose you out there…." Derrick said, running the back of his hand down her toned arms, giving her chills.

"You won't lose me. I promised you I would never leave you and never fall for anyone else. I've been promising you that for the past few years. The same promise that you failed to keep." Angela mumbled.

"I thought you weren't coming back! You hadn't called me or written me or…anything!" Derrick defended himself.

"Look. Take your time. Decide what you want. But I'm not going to be your relationship on the side. So either choose me or choose her. It's that simple." Angela smiled. "Now, I'm going to get ready for the day. And expect me back at around 12 or 1 tonight."

"Ok. You know I really do love you. So much." Derrick whispered in her ear.

"I love you too. So much." Angela replied and slipped out of the door silently.

"So tell me the story about this Angela girl. She's been coming around for the past three nights so you can't expect me to have not noticed by now." Josh asked, jumping off the top bunk.

Derrick turned around from the door of the cabin and looked Josh right in the eye.

"It's a very, very long story." Derrick began.

Derrick proceeded to tell Josh the story of how he'd fallen for Angela as she helped him through the break up with Massie, and how she's gone off to war when things began getting tough. She promised him she'd return but after about a year of no communication, Derrick had given up and married Massie, wanting a distraction.

When he'd been drafted to war, he knew this was his chance to find out if she was still alive. And when he found her, nothing between them had changed. It was like she was the missing puzzle piece in his life. Whenever she was with him, he was complete. And now that Massie was impregnated, he had to find the love of his life all of the sudden. Damn it.

"We really shouldn't be doing this…" Cam said breathlessly.

"Who cares what we should and shouldn't be doing? If we don't do anything, the next few years will be so boring….why did you stop?" Claire asked, bopping Cam on the head playfully.

"You know, this isn't exactly my idea of entertainment." Cam pointed out.

"Just shut up and seduce me. You are totally ruining the mood." Claire moaned.

Cam wanted romance! He wanted commitment. He wanted children and marriage and….not this! He didn't even know why he and Claire had been sneaking around for the past few days. He was quite frankly sick of it, but it was the closest he was going to get to Claire. And she possibly didn't even give a care about him at all.

Claire felt a spicy heat trickle down her back. It was almost like someone had poured relaxingly hot water down her shirt. This was the sign. It was time to start stripping. Claire kept her cool and slowly unbuttoned Cam's shirt. She knew that the more of her sweet time that she took, the more Cam would want her. This was exactly what she wanted. She wanted him to want her so much that he would step of the edge of a cliff to get to her. She wanted him to scream out to her and beg her to be with him. She wanted him to be in pain. She wanted to play him like a toy. She wanted him to feel how she felt when she found out about his long-lasting affair with Olivia.

He'd supposedly "kept it a secret" for the many months that he and Olivia were cheating, but Claire knew everything. She knew everything from the first day they'd had sex to the day that Cam confessed.

Claire found herself crying, mid-sex. She was back into the real world. Light tears turned into sobs and Claire just couldn't shake the memory of monotonous misery from her head.

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Cam worried.

"Yes! Yes, you hurt me. You hurt me so damned bad, Cam. You lied to me. Freaking lied. I tried so hard to go on every day, knowing that you were having an affair with Olivia for months. Or was it more than moths? Was it years, Cam? I am not ok. I never will be….and it's all because I am still in love with you." Claire gasped at her own words.

"Oh…oh, God…I—" Claire stuttered.

"Look, I know I hurt you. And that wasn't right of me, ok. I also know what your saying right now is just a result of all of the drama going on in your life. One minute you'll be saying how much you love me and want me back and the next you'll be saying that all of this has to be no strings attached or whatever. And you know what? I'm going to do you a favor and take a little bit of the drama out of your life. This whole no strings attached thing is…not me. I don't even think its something that the Claire I know would do. Yet, maybe you aren't the Claire I used to know. So…I'm leaving. No questions asked. I want you to just stand here. And not say a word, because I'm serious this time. It is really and truly….over."

Claire opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She couldn't breathe. Her entire life was flashing before her eyes. Cam, the love of her life was leaving her. It was really over. Wait. She seriously couldn't breathe.

"I can't breathe!" Claire gasped for air.

"I know this is hard for you, but—"

"NO! I CAN'T BREATHE!!" Claire screamed.

Claire collapsed in a heap on the ground.

And just like that, everything went black.